Business communication is dominated by email. According to a recent study by the Radicati Group, an estimated 281 billion emails were sent each day in 2018!
Email is great because it’s ubiquitous and instant. You can share important memos, photos, excel spreadsheets and more with your entire office with a click of a button.
Unfortunately, too many of us abuse the convenience of email. We type away all morning, sending them off one after another until we finally break for lunch with a flush feeling of productivity.
But was it really? Is that last email you sent really going to solve a problem? Is it going to facilitate needed action? Maybe not.
3 Scenarios When You Should Reconsider Sending That Email
Before you congratulate yourself for always being first to respond in a group message, consider these situations when email between internal colleagues may not be your best choice.
1. You are replying to an ongoing discussion or debate
Nobody has the time or the patience to sift through a daisy chain of email threads.
Stop a back and forth email discussion in its tracks. Pick up the phone, walk over to their desk, or schedule a meeting. Email is not the place for a group forum.
2. There is no clear purpose or call to action
Why are you sending this email? Have you made that purpose explicitly clear? Is there something you want or need the recipient to do? If so, have you made it obvious?
One clear indicator that you haven’t been specific enough are phrases like: “somebody should…” and “does anybody know…”
Delete any drafts you’ve written that address a known issue, but lack a specific call to action.
Rarely do colleagues need/want more background information via email. Get to the point and be specific with what help you need.
3. Your draft is >3 paragraphs long
Emails are concise modes of communication. If you’ve written more than 3 paragraphs, there’s probably too much unnecessary information.
Use the BLUF framework, popular in military communications. BLUF stands for Bottom Line Up Front. BLUF paragraphs move conclusions and recommendations to the beginning of the text, rather than the end, in order to facilitate rapid decision making.
Clear and concise communication is a learned skill. Practice it. Anybody can ramble on and on until they finally get their point across. But few can distill an email to its essence.
Conclusion
Emails are great because they are fast and convenient. But fast and convenient things are cheap.
Most of us lack any respect for the emails we send. Consequently, we all complain about the difficulties of managing a flooded inbox.
Internal work email reform is a good place to start. The next time you type up a draft, think about if it’s really necessary, or if it’s just convenient. Your colleagues will thank you when they have one less email to read.
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